CH 3

When Zhou Yan’s son was hospitalized, Chen Yuncheng took a day off to visit the hospital in the afternoon.

Before he left, he picked up a carton of milk from the kiosk, pulled down the shutter and locked it, and then walked towards the subway station.

Zhou Yan was not in the hospital, and Chen Yuncheng only saw his girlfriend Gu Yaojia in the ward with the child.

Chen Yuncheng sat down and chatted with Gu Yaojia for a while.

When asked where Zhou Yan had gone, Gu Yaojia did not look too good and said, “He went to get some money.” He could hear that she had some complaints in her tone.

After all, Gu Yaojia was still young. Before, when she was only with Zhou Yan, they were happy and had nothing to care about. However, once they had children, they were held back by many of reality’s worries.

Now that the child was sick and needed money for treatment, it was not easy to feel fulfilled in many ways.

Chen Yuncheng listened quietly and had nothing to say. He glanced at the sleeping child lying on the hospital bed, stood up, and said, “Then you all have a good rest, I’ll go first.”

“Cheng ge, thank you,” Gu Yaojia accompanied Chen Yuncheng to the door of the ward.

Chen Yuncheng waved his hand to tell her that she didn’t have to send him off. He walked through the corridor where people came and went, before heading towards the elevator.

This was one of the largest hospitals in Chongfeng City. Every ward that Chen Yuncheng passed by was full of patients and there were loud noises everywhere. Some children were crying, and some family members were sitting at the door of the ward chatting. The inpatient building seemed to have the central air conditioning turned on. The air was dry and muggy, with a unique smell only belonging to the hospital. The window at the end of the corridor was open, but it only opened a little and was firmly stuck. The gap was only as much as a slit that even a child could not get through.

Today was not the weekend, nor was it lunch time, so he didn’t see anyone at the elevator.

Chen Yuncheng waited for more than ten seconds. When the elevator door opened, he saw a man standing inside.

The man was very tall and wore a simple white coat that couldn’t completely hide his excellent figure. His expression was indifferent, but the moment the elevator door opened, his eyes fell on Chen Yuncheng’s face.

Chen Yuncheng did not avoid his gaze. He walked towards the elevator, and at the same time, saw the work card on the man’s chest. In addition to the picture, the words “Ning Junyan” were particularly prominent.

It turned out that he was really Ning Junyan and Chen Yuncheng was not mistaken.

He walked in, turned his back to Ning Junyan, and his eyes fell on the constantly flashing floor lights.

The elevator door slowly closed and the elevator began to descend.

When they went down two floors, the elevator stopped, and seven or eight people came in at once from outside and filled the entire elevator in an instant.

Chen Yuncheng subconsciously backed up and felt his heel step on something. He quickly stopped his steps, turned back and said, “I’m sorry.”

Ning Junyan, who was stepped on by him, did not speak.

Chen Yuncheng stood beside Ning Junyan and leaned against the innermost wall of the elevator.

Later, some people came in the elevator, and it became more and more crowded. The air in the small and closed environment was turbid. Chen Yuncheng smelled smoke and sweat that didn’t belong in winter. There was also a little bit of what seemed like a perfume on Ning Junyan.

With his hand hanging by his side, he accidentally touched the back of Ning Junyan’s hand, so he subconsciously looked down and saw the expensive high-end watch on Ning Junyan’s wrist, as well as the worn-out white marks on the cuffs of his own down jacket.

Chen Yuncheng suddenly thought that it was good that Ning Junyan did not recognize him.

The elevator of the hospital went down to the first floor and all the people in front walked out. When Chen Yuncheng followed behind Ning Junyan was still behind him.

He stepped out of the elevator, looked up to identify his next direction, and was about to walk towards the door of the inpatient department.

At this time, he suddenly heard someone calling his name from behind, “Chen Yuncheng.”

How old was Ning Junyan the year they got separated? Chen Yuncheng remembered that Ning Junyan seemed to be fourteen, because at that time he was twelve years old, and he knew that Ning Junyan was two years older than him. The fourteen-year-old Ning Junyan was in a period of rapid development. He was growing taller and his voice became deeper and unpleasant, so the last thing left in Chen Yuncheng’s memory was only a shadow of the boy whose voice had changed.

It was not at all like the present, where Chen Yuncheng heard the voice of an unfamiliar, low-pitched adult male.

Chen Yuncheng turned around and saw Ning Junyan standing not far from the elevator door.

There were no unnecessary pleasantries. Chen Yuncheng wanted to greet him with a smile and ask him when he recognized him, but Ning Junyan just said in a flat tone, “I’ll be off work in half an hour, is it convenient to have dinner together?”

Chen Yuncheng nodded, “Sure.”

He said it was half an hour, but in fact, when Chen Yuncheng got into Ning Junyan’s Land Rover, it was already almost an hour later.

Ning Junyan took off his white lab coat and changed into a dark coat with a light camel coloured cashmere shirt inside.

If these kinds of clothes were worn by Chen Yuncheng, it would be cold even if he had a fire on when he huddled in his kiosk every day.

But Ning Junyan had sufficient heating both in the hospital and in the car. In this environment, Chen Yuncheng felt that after staying a little longer, he would even start sweating.

As they arrived at the restaurant Ning Junyan chose for dinner, Chen Yuncheng took off his jacket as soon as he sat down, revealing his thin sweater inside.

He still felt a little hot, so he picked up a glass of water and took a sip of lemonade. The water was cold.

Ning Junyan sat opposite him and hardly spoke on the way out of the car until now, but when Chen Yuncheng took off his jacket, his eyes fell on him and he didn’t look away for a long time.

After Ning Junyan finished ordering, Chen Yuncheng finally couldn’t help but say, “I thought you didn’t recognize me.”

Ning Junyan also took a sip of water from the cup and said, “I did.”

The two fell silent again.

Chen Yuncheng was suddenly amused. He felt that he had found the same Ning Junyan that was in his memory. At that time, Ning Junyan was also like that, not willing to talk much and did not pay attention to anyone.

He then smiled and said, “How long has it been? More than ten years, right?” He actually remembered when asking, but deliberately said it vaguely.

Unexpectedly, Ning Junyan said, “Sixteen years.”

Chen Yuncheng looked at him, “I didn’t expect you to be a doctor.”

Ning Junyan looked him straight in the eyes, “What do you think I should have been?”

Chen Yuncheng shook his head, “I can’t imagine.”

Ning Junyan asked, “How about you?”

Chen Yuncheng smiled, “I, ah, run a little business.”

The waiters brought out their dishes one by one.

After eating in silence for a while, Chen Yuncheng asked, “Are you married?”

“No,” Ning Junyan answered quickly, and then asked, “Are you married?”

Chen Yuncheng said, “No, I’m still alone.”

Ning Junyan nodded and said nothing.

After they ate dinner and came out of the restaurant, Chen Yuncheng immediately put on his down jacket and wrapped it tightly around his body. He saw that Ning Junyan’s coat was still on his arm, and didn’t ask him if it would be cold, but just said, “Thank you for tonight, then I’ll go back first.”

They didn’t even ask for each other’s contact information.

Chen Yuncheng hesitated, but he saw that Ning Junyan didn’t bring it up, so he didn’t take the initiative to mention it either. Although it was Ning Junyan who invited him to have dinner together, he could feel Ning Junyan’s indifference and cold detachment. Maybe they were only going to have this one meal and would never see each other again.

Ning Junyan looked at him and said, “I will send you off.”

Chen Yuncheng said with a smile, “No need. I’m going to take the subway, it won’t take much time.”

Ning Junyan’s tone was calm and he repeated, “I will send you off.”

The valet boy at the entrance of the restaurant drove Ning Junyan’s car over, got out of the car and handed him the car keys.

Ning Junyan didn’t speak anymore and walked toward his Land Rover.

Chen Yuncheng had no choice but to follow.

Notes:

Another updatee~ I actually planned to update 3 chaps on the release date but because of things, I only can update 1 first and the other two today